At the beginning of the 1920s, there was practically no significant car race in the world, in which at least one of the first three places in one of the race cars from Laurin & Klement, the predecessor of today’s Škoda Auto, did not take part in it. In Mladá Boleslav, however, they started racing specials a little earlier.
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The first ever successes were achieved by an incredible 120 years ago by L&K motorcycles, however, Václavov Laurin and Klement were well aware that the right opportunities awaited them in the automotive industry. In addition, motorcycles taught them that the best marketing moves are triumphs in motorsport, so in 1905 work began on the first racer in Boleslav.
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The first winner a year later was the Voiturette B. Today, he had a ridiculous 9 horsepower and was able to drive a maximum of 45 km / h, which was ample enough for him to take first, second and fourth place in the races in Semmering, Austria. The huge success foreshadowed the next years of records and gave rise, among other things, to the legendary L&K FC model.
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The FC special was created on the platform of the then extremely successful F-type passenger car, backed by then-chief engineer Otto Hieronimus. No wonder, then, that he took his racing version under his wing. And it paid off. In total, L&K produced nineteen cars, which were quite different from each other. According to various racing categories, engines with volumes from 2 to 2.5 liters appeared under the hood. At the same time, the power units supplied power via a three-speed gearbox to the rear wheels, as is the case with real sports cars. Legendary models were produced in Mladá Boleslav for a total of three years from 1907 to the end of 1909.
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Laurin & Klement FC (1908).
Photo: Škoda Auto
However, in addition to well-made cars, riders also win races. Here, the real hero can be considered the author of the car, engineer Otto Hieronimus, who with the car won an extremely demanding race St. Petersburg-Moscow 686 kilometers long. He himself proved to the world how durable and reliable the machine was designed.
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In addition to this victory, in 1908 the carmaker recorded six first, five second and one third place in the race to the hill Zbraslav – Jíloviště. The FC model also achieved two victories in the two-liter category in the Austrian Riesa, and we must not forget the memorable victory in the legendary Prince Henry’s Ride. The race then took 9 days from Berlin to Hanover, Cologne and Triel, and then the 2200-kilometer race ended in Frankfurt am Main.
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Among other things, the carmaker L&K became the holder of the world record in the same year. Hieronimus was not satisfied with the success of the FC model and designed an even stronger version of the FCS. However, it no longer had a two-liter under the hood, but an engine with a capacity of 3.5 liters, so the car could go much faster. Hieronimus himself proved it to the whole world when he set a speed record for his class in the British city of Brooklands, namely 118.72 km / h. The car had an in-line four-cylinder OHV engine and 96 horsepower. Laurin & Klement produced only 8 pieces of a unique race car, which went down in history forever.
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In 1909, even the most advanced race car of that time, the top version of the FC series called the FCR, fought for its fame. The designers have already made a number of changes here, and the special was significantly different from the FC model. The biggest difference was, among other things, a giant, 5.6-liter bulky engine under the hood, which increased the car’s performance to 100 horsepower. Due to the fact that the maximum speed was estimated at an incredible 140 km / h, the car with Otto Hieronimus won practically every race in which he participated.
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Laurin & Klement FC (1908).
Photo: Škoda Auto
The tradition has been maintained in L&K and later in Škoda Auto to this day. Perhaps the most legendary racing “Škoda” can be considered the beautiful special 130 RS, which in 1977 managed to lead Václav Blahn and Lubislav Hlávka to the first place in the famous Rally Monte Carlo. The highlight of today is the Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo, an extremely popular racing car in the WRC2 category, in which, among other things, it triumphed in 2018 with Jan Kopecký behind the wheel.
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